


Election Night (2006)

by apocryphile



Category: West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-15
Updated: 2012-04-15
Packaged: 2017-11-03 16:22:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/383480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apocryphile/pseuds/apocryphile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The hours following Election Day Part II. Refers to sex and nudity but isn't explicit (sorry ;)).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Election Night (2006)

She hadn't expected it to be the highlight of her sex life so far, and in a way it wasn't - it was fast and unadventurous - but it was all the more remarkable for it, because, inevitably, their first time at it, they made love like a long-since married couple.  
  
She also hadn't expected the euphoria to be tinged so sharply with panic. After dozing lightly for a meagre couple of hours, she'd lain awake in the dark thinking about Leo and Jenny, Toby and Andy, Sam and Lisa...  
  
She heard him moving behind her, made a series of snap decisions she'd spend hours second-guessing, and got up.  
  
\-----  
  
After she lured him back to bed the next day, they were explosive. When she'd brazenly propositioned him in the campaign office, she'd envisaged calming him down with gentle, soothing touches, maybe even a massage, something languid and focused. Instead, he'd robbed her of her control and abandoned his own, and then surprised her again with his attentiveness to her pleasure even as he left faint bruises, scratches and bitemarks all over her body.  
  
Hours later in a hospital hallway she welcomed the sting of them on her skin as everything else went numb.  
  
\-----  
  
They spent the morning after Leo died - the election a huge but distant second in the maelstrom of emotions – twined together, resting but unable to fully switch off.

She felt the vibrations of him speaking into her hair rather than really hearing him, but she understood enough, having been expecting it, to know what he said.  
  
"When I asked you this morning… yesterday, whenever it was… how you felt..."  
  
"You didn't mean about the election. I know. What I said... It _was_ about us. I just didn't quite know how to explain..."  
  
"Could you try for me?"  
  
She knew it cost him to ask her that. Knew that because of what had happened, he couldn't trust that her spending the night with him again was about anything other than pain and comfort. Knew that he didn't understand why after they'd made love last night she'd pulled away from him but now she was all but wrapped around him after they'd barely had the energy to kiss.  
  
She didn't have that many answers for him yet, but she owed him at least an attempt.  
  
"Last night... After we... I..." She swallowed, and felt his arm tighten around her waist in what she hoped was silent encouragement.  
  
"I found myself thinking that things would be easier for us... For you and I, together... If we lost the election."  
  
She heard his breath hitch for a second, and the tension in his arms shifted subtly - no longer so much a tight grip on her as a freeze in his movements. She ran her fingers up and down his bicep, willing to him to relax.  
  
"I hated myself for thinking that, Josh. But... It was hard, it is hard, not to want to put us first, after everything.”

He exhaled shakily and she pressed on, determined to finish the thought without getting sidetracked.

“But then I got up and checked the wires and I guess something clicked in my mind somewhere because I felt the way I thought I’d feel on election day morning – monumentally pumped.”

He chuckled.

“And I remembered, or I realised, I don’t know, I guess a little of both, that fighting so hard to win this election is one of the things I love about you. And I think it’s also maybe something you…” she swallowed; “…like about me?”

He went still for a moment and she thought her heart would stop waiting for him to answer. Then he shifted position so he could see her properly and touched a gentle hand to her cheek.

“Donna, it’s not only something I love about you, it’s something that makes me so proud, and it makes me feel hopeful about the future, that we’ve got someone like you in our camp.”

His words, coming at the end of what had been one of both the best and worst days of her life, tipped some sort of emotional scale inside her and she burst into tears.

He didn’t seem entirely surprised, and he didn’t try to get her to stop crying. He just held her, gently rubbing her back and stroking her hair, and let her vent some of the grief and confusion and exhaustion of the past twenty-four hours. As her sobs began to subside, she heard him sniff, and realised he was quietly shedding a few tears of his own. Drawing in a deep shuddering breath she looked up at him and leaned to kiss his cheek, leaving her lips pressed to his skin. When he sniffed again and wiped his eyes she moved up kiss his forehead and then sat up.

“I think we should take a bath.”

He looked surprised, but didn’t argue. Murmuring “Okay,” he pushed himself upright and shoved the sheets aside. When he stood, he looked like every part of him ached, and Donna felt a pang of worry.

To her surprise, it didn’t feel the least bit odd to undress together in the cramped bathroom. Josh unselfconsciously discarded his boxers and reached for the hem of her t-shirt – his, actually – before she could do it herself. He pulled it up, pausing before it went over her head to kiss her, and then finding her lips again once he’d tugged it off and dropped it on the floor. Ignoring the urge to pick it up, she ran her hands up and down his back, caressing at first and then rubbing in earnest, hoping to soothe his sore muscles. He hummed appreciatively and she moved up to his shoulders, stepping away and around him for better access.   

“That feels good.”

“Good. The hot water will help too.”

He reached up and stilled her movements and then turned around and pulled her into his arms. They stood quietly, breathing together, until the tub was full.

Fitting two tall people into one small bathtub proved to be more of a challenge than she had imagined, and there was a considerable amount of splashing. It felt good to laugh, and when she finally settled against his chest he sighed contentedly.

“This is nice.”

She smiled, even though he couldn’t see her face.

“It is.”

He was tracing random patterns on her skin under the water, and she caught his fingers and brought his hand up to her lips. As she kissed his knuckles he spoke again.

“It’s not going to be an easy four years.”

Surprised, she held onto his hand, waiting for him to go on.

“But this… things like this… would make the bad days seem easier…”

His tentative tone tugged at her heart and she gripped his fingers, the promise she’d been afraid to make suddenly forming easily on her lips.

“I’ll be there, Josh. I don’t have all the answers yet but I’ll be there.”

He hugged her tightly, kissing the back of her head.

“I’ll get a bigger bath put in.”

She laughed. There would be time enough to discuss their living arrangements back in DC, but for a moment she allowed herself to picture a townhouse on a tree-lined street, with a backyard and plenty of bedrooms.

They soaked quietly for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts. When Donna noticed the water beginning to cool down she straightened up, and realised Josh had gone to sleep. He stirred and mumbled as she climbed out of the tub but didn’t budge when she touched his cheek. She tried again with no effect.

“Joshua Lyman, I’m standing here soaking wet and completely naked and you’re fast asleep. In the bath.”

He laughed as he opened his eyes, and shook his head to wake himself up before hauling himself to his feet. She stared openly, grinning, and he smirked and did a slow turn for her.

“Very nice. Now come back to bed.”

“Oh, it’s like that, is it?”

“Bet your ass.”

“Well, yes.”

Giggling delightedly, she tossed him a towel. She figured if they could laugh like that on a night like this, they were probably going to be OK.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the first half of this about a year ago and the rest in the last hour or so. I'm always glad to finish something that's been languishing in my story store, but this one especially so, as I'm very attached to Donna's explanation for what she said that morning.


End file.
